As Sotheby's prepares to auction first editions of books annotated by 50 top authors, curator and antiquarian book-dealer Rick Gekoski explains how he got all the greats to join in - and some of the secrets they reveal

Following the announcement of the 2010 shortlist for the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse prize for comic writing, we ask whether in times of trouble, we need books that make us laugh more than ever. With Howard Jacobson, Alex Clark and Paul Murray